вЂњWell, like I did with my Strat, I always used to have the SG in pieces. Of course, the guitar builder John Birch was also Birmingham based, and he was important in customising your SG and getting it sounding and playing how you wanted, and needed, due to your injuryвЂ¦ For a while we couldnвЂ™t get anybody to talk to us, because they thought we were going to turn them into a fish or something. Which Black Sabbath, according to a lot of people, was. Trying to make something in music that would give it the light and shade. We said, вЂImagine how people get frightened, get that excitement from a horror movie, that fear. So we had this interest in the supernatural.

вЂњWell, I was always interested, and so was Geezer, in horror movies and stuff like that. Was there a decision to go that dark route? Was it that you wanted to be scary? But it brought us together and it just worked.вЂќДЇor a while we couldnвЂ™t get anybody to talk to us, because they thought we were going to turn them into a fish or something I thought, вЂBloody hell!вЂ™ We were a right odd bunch. Ozzy came with a shirt and a tap round his neck. Geezer came in in this long hippie dress. 'When we first got together weвЂ™d just learn 12-bar songs, and on the first gig we did, I didnвЂ™t even know what they were going to wear. With Ozzy, I went to school with Ozzy and I never knew he was a singer. YouвЂ™d go, вЂBlimey, heвЂ™s nutty that guy.вЂ™ We never knew for a minute weвЂ™d end up playing with him. Geez was in this other band, and heвЂ™d be doing acid and climbing up walls. TheyвЂ™d do an all-nighter with four or five bands. Bill and I used to play in this place in Birmingham. Geez had played guitar before but never bass. Then when Bill and myself got together with Oz and Geez, it was a weird combination. WeвЂ™d joined this blues band up in Carlisle. IвЂ™d played in a band with Bill Ward before. When metal happened, which you and your SG were fundamental to, was it a natural evolution from, say, Cream and Led Zeppelin, or was it the chemistry between the four of you? вЂњI had Schaller tuners put on youвЂ™d turn the old plastic keys and nothing would happen, after years of useвЂќ I remember playing one night and thinking, вЂBlimey, this is that image I used to see, of being on stage.вЂ™вЂќ I thought it would be doing something like that. 'But I never thought it would be musical, because I used to do contact sports. IвЂ™d always have these dreams of being on stage. But there was a desire to escape, without a doubt. Geezer was in the office he was going to be an accountant. There were always gang fights and God knows what else. вЂњI think where we come from was also a great influence on the music, because it was a bit dismal where we lived. I thought, вЂBloody hell!вЂ™ We were a right odd bunch

Black Sabbath was the benchmark of where we were going to go, and off we went. We played these in a blues club and people in the crowd came up afterwards: вЂWhat was that? We really liked it.вЂ™ вЂOh, thatвЂ™s one of our own songs.вЂ™ That sparked it all off, really. It was the first song we ever wrote and we really liked the way it was going. WeвЂ™d be getting louder and heavier, and we decided this was the way we wanted to go вЂ“ and I came up with that Wicked World riff. вЂњThe bandвЂ™s sound developed over a period. So I thought, вЂIвЂ™ve got to use this SG,вЂ™ and I ended up playing several albums on it.

In those days you couldnвЂ™t just go to the shop and get a pickup, and we only had two days in the studio. But when we came to record the first album, I played the very first song, Wicked World, with the Strat, and the pickup went, which is weird. вЂњI had a Strat, which I played mainly, and I wanted another guitar as a spare. It looked a bit dodgy, but I finally got a left-handed SG.' I didnвЂ™t know him from Adam, but we arranged to meet in a carpark. But I heard of this guy whoвЂ™d got a left-handed SG he was right-handed and he played his upside-down. I had a right-handed SG, upside-down, which I strung left-handed. When the new owners came in they said, вЂLetвЂ™s do itвЂ™ вЂ“ because that is my original guitar that was on all the early albums. вЂњItвЂ™s been talked about for quite a while.

Black sabbath guitarist